Do you judge people by their first names?
The Brits here may have seen this “interesting” discussion on morning TV yesterday. The video I posted is 9 minutes long but you can get the general gist in the first 30 seconds! Basically, one of the women (Katie Hopkins) is saying that she judges her children’s friends on their first names because the names their parents give them lets her know what sort of class they are and whether or not she wants her children playing with them!!!
She goes on to say that celebrity names, seasonal names and geographical names (watch out for the massive contradiction here) tell her that the child is probably not the type she wants her children to be mixing with.
Do you judge people by their names in anyway? I’m sure we have all heard a celebrity name (North West?) and rolled our eyes but how far would you take that thought?
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We should be honest here. I think this is more about race. David Mitchell is Posh as fuck but has the name of a coal miner before Thatcher killed that industry.
Generally no. However, if you deliberately misspell your child’s name to try to be cool, in Australia you’ll probably be considered a bogan and you’re labelling your child as one too.
Examples.
Abbergale
Ad’m
Canduss
Charlatte
There’s a whole website devoted to bogan baby names.
Never saw it until now, but isn’t that her off The Apprentice a few years back?
She’s a dumb stuck up bitch with previous form along these lines & is probably searching for publicity, sad desperate cow that she is.
In the world of the talentless, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, deluded fools that they are.
On the positive side though, I love Holly Willough-booby…great bangers! ;-}
In general, I try not to, but I am going to draw certain conclusions when I see a name like LaQuisha or Vontavious or Mohammad, as opposed to Richard or WIlliam or Elizabeth.
I don’t judge per say but I have found that your name definitely, at least in some small way, effects your personality. I think people with unique names as opposed to the bob or joe tend to be more unique people.
I also don’t know what it is about the name Jared but I’ve met 6 people named Jared in my life and 5 of them did heroin. Never naming my child Jared lol
No, but depending on how odd the name is I may judge their parent/s. You can’t control what you are named.
I think they just invited this odd caricature on the show because it would rile viewers up and encourage them to write in to the show. Who could take the woman seriously?
Ominous-music, gavel-banging judgement? No. But there are always working assumptions. That’s how your mind works. As PC as it sounds, we don’t walk around with blank slates.
If we did, our ancestors would have been wiped out by the saber tooth tiger that we were trying to give the benefit of the doubt to.
Just because other saber-tooth tigers have tried to eat me doesn’t mean that this one will too!
Not-so-famous last thoughts.
That being said, I’d judge their parents more than I would judge them.
Assuming you mean moral judgment. Moral judgment only applies to human choice and action.
You may judge the parents, since they chose the name. You may not judge the children, since they did not choose it.
I try to never be judgmental, but if you name a boy, say…Egbert….he probably won’t win many street fights. Jerry Seinfeld says if you name your son ‘Jeeves’, you’ve probably already mapped-out his career as a butler.
And, sorry…..Shaquille and LeBron sound like ‘girl names’ to me…
@Bellatrix I love the term “bogan”!
I agree that there have been times where I have thought “what the hell were you thinking?” when parents have named their child something odd (I heard that Khaleesi has become quite popular since Game of Thrones hit our screens) or (one of my pet hates) spelt a normal name differently to be unique but, like others have said, that judgement is aimed at the parents rather than the children.
Katie Hopkins says that “no one named after a wine will be coming through her house”, that’s cringeworthy.
I absolutely loved the “I don’t like geographical names” “but your child is called India?!” bit!!!
I can’t help but wonder what type of people her children will turn out to be if they are living with this level of snobbery. Heaven forbit precious little Poppy or India fall in love and marry someone called Tyler!!!!
Friends of our daughter had a baby boy last year, and named him…..
Owl
No. I might judge their parents, though. After all, most people don’t get to choose their own name. Some names annoy me or make me roll my eyes, but that’s about as far as it goes.
I once knew someone named Princess, and I could never force myself to call her by name.
I must admit to being put off by some names, especially of the ‘made-up’ sort—although the speaker in the video seems definitely over the top in ner rejection of people by name.
I had some difficulty getting past the name “Condoleeza” when she was a key figure in the Bush administration. Of course, a little part of that was that she was IN the Bush administration.
I judge the parents by the first name, not the individual. However, some of that does rub off on the child. There is a much higher chance that Tynisia and Uneequa were brought up by single, black, moms (72% 2009), than Brittney and Courtney (21% 2009) . The latter are far more likely to have parents that took them to after school activities and forced them to do homework and taught them to get to class on time.
Names… I judge them by what comes out of their mouths. So if somehow their weird name has shaped them into a person that makes them spew bullshit then I may be doing it in a roundabout way.
I met a couple who called their daughter Arbit. Poor kid.
Arbit….I remember that name from somewhere. I didn’t like it .
I’d never heard it before and I haven’t since. Was it in a book or something @woodcutter? I didn’t like it either.
@Bellatrix My brain is suffering right now. I am getting something but its fuzzy. I want to say it might have been a film where a girl character was Arbit. I hate when this happens….damn you.
“Norbit” with Eddie Murphy. So close.
I want to find this badly and google is killing me. Help me someone.
Oh that makes me feel for the child even more now @glacial. This was a long time ago. I would guess pre- the ITT slang. Weird – yes. I didn’t really know them so I didn’t question their choice.
Sorry @woodcutter. Perhaps @glacial has already put you out of your misery.
No. That’s dumb. A rose by any other name…
@tinyfaery True. But a rose is totally oblivious to what we have decided to name it.
Lurve anyways, because it’s a lovely sentiment.
at least I know what “bogan” means. this was worth it
then of course there is the old joke about the woman who named her twins Syphilis and Gonorrhea because she saw those names on her medical chart.
@Bellatrix were her parents lawyers or arbitrageurs?
Old people in the future carrying names like Chelsea/Tiffany & Apple, a stark change from the usual Edna/Hilda & Mabel…fancy that.
At least they didn’t name her Wild Wild West.
I don’t judge people by their first names. I judge parents by the names they give their children.
@anartist, I don’t know. It was years ago but it’s stuck in my mind because I was so bemused and perplexed by their choice.
Not typically, but if your name is Barbie, Bambi, Candy, or Trixie, I will likely snicker in my head and assume that you’re either a stripper or an airhead. Or both. I can’t help it.
@WillWorkForChocolate My cousin’s name was Candi. She was certainly not a stripper. She was a very big girl, but she had a huge heart and was smarter than I’ll ever be. Many years ago, she had a job at one of those phone sex hotlines. She once told me about a guy sending her a tiny thong, requesting she wear it and send it back. She said, “Where the hell am I supposed to wear it? On my wrist?!” She completely altered my perception of stripper names. She was awesome. :)
Throwing this out there: my cousin named her children Glacia and Honey. I judge her often, and harshly.
Nope at most, it just tells me if the parents are idiots. But I don’t judge the kid. I’ve met children from intelligent and great parents who named their child a proper lovely name and the kid is a douche. And I’ve met douche parents who have name their kid by some stupid name and the kid is a great and solid citizen. The name only will give clues as to how the parents think. Kids don’t always live up to their names. I don’t know how many boys I met with the name Jesus, who turned out to be future inmates or girls name Angelina who were very far removed from being Angels. They can name the kid Luther or Damien and the kid can turn out to be great.
I judge a person by their actions and how they treat others, not by what their mommy named them.
No, but it can say a lot about their parents. The only circumstance in which I would judge a person by their first name is if I know they chose the name themselves, for instance if they were transgendered, or if its a stage-name.
@WillWorkForChocolate another take on Candi Barbi, Trixie and Bambi. Toney prep-school/sorority girls’ nicknames. Along with Pooky, Trinkett, Libby, Dottie et cetera.
The press did alleviate my “Condoleeza” problem when they started referring to her as “Condi” —And my back-burner mind did not say “stripper”—it said “Vassar”
@ucme how usual is “Edna, Hilda, Mabel”? I’ve never met anyone with any of those names. And I’ve been around a while.
There are tons of them over here, along with Fred/Harry & Eric.
@anartist I’ve never met anyone with those names either. I think those list popularity (at least in the US) a few decades ago. The only Fred I know had a wife named Ethel and died in 1966. Ok, I exaggerate.
Here I see a lot of Jessica, Ashley, Joshua, Michael, etc. my husband has 3 Michaels in his family and I have 3 Brians in mine.
I was on about here, obviously & right now.
@ucme Don’t forget Joan, Ethel and Maud!
Ha, yeah some names just belong to old folks…Betty, Flo & Doris to add yet more.
@ucme My nan’s called Betty, I love it!
@Leanne1986 I’m now hearing Betty Rubble’s laugh…I love that!
There have been times where initial judgement was passed on a person when hearing their name if it was the same as another person’s that I liked or disliked. In all cases, it immediately dissipated once they started talking and a bond was formed.
The video clip of Ms. Hopkins sharing her viewpoint on judging someone (or parents) by a child’s name is beyond the limit of acceptable. Like any intolerance of another person, it often takes exposure of differences to shed light on the fact that we are all individuals. One can only hope that she will someday discover this.
In the meantime, a devious streak in me wants to send her this letter:
Dear Ms. Hopkins,
Great minds think alike! A friend informed me that your daughters’ names are Poppy and India. What a coincidence that those are the same names that were given to our “boys”, both adopted from the local animal shelter. “Poppy” is in memory of my dearly departed grandfather, and “India” is the country visited when I met my partner.
If you and your children ever make it to America, feel free to contact me for a place to stay. Our home has ample space to accommodate your family, despite it being situated in a trailer park. There is a lovely pond within the compound where we can take our “children” out for a stroll. I am sure you would enjoy it.
Sincerely,
Katherine “Katie” Smith
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